Cycle II (20)

Last week Mrs Helen Kamutumbe, a woman from Chingola, was brutally murdered last week by a frenzied mob when she traveled to Kalumbila in North-Western District of Zambia for business. She was accused of witch-craft by a certain man, Mr. Prince Ntembo. The allegation that …

I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of being “blue-ticked.” Being left hanging by someone who has read your message on Whatsapp but then doesn’t reply gives enormous blue tick anxiety. We are left wondering why the person is not replying us, we wonder if we our message has …

Fr. George Smiga, a priest who ministers in the diocese of Cleaveland, Ohio tells a story about an interesting conversation he once had with his mother. His mother was not a highly educated woman, at least not in the academic sense. She was raised as a child on a farm in …

A man was flying his private plane and was forced to make a crash landing out in the middle of the Sahara desert. Although he was able to parachute to safety, he found himself without any means of communication or provisions. His only option was to walk to civilization. …

Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and widely acclaimed spiritual writer, brought out a book a few years ago, entitled “Falling Upwards.” His main thesis in this book is that life is divided into two halves. The first half of life is all about building one’s tower. As you …

In Homer’s great Greek epic, The Odyssey, the hero of the story, Odysseus, is faced with the quest of returning to his home to be reunited with his wife and son. His journey home is plagued by obstacles, once of the most dangerous of which is to pass by the island of …

The everything bagel on the surface of things seems like a good invention. Why should we have to choose between having a bagel with sesame seeds or poppy seeds or onion flakes or garlic flakes or pretzel salt, when we can just have a bagel with every one of these things. The …

The French Dominican writer, Christian Duquoc, has a penetrating insight which argues that good is actually often the cause of evil. To prove this point he cites the many well-intentioned NGOs who try to go about saving the world, but end up, even in the cases where they …

The beatitudes form the dramatic opening of the Sermon and the Mount, the centerpiece of Jesus’ preaching in the Gospel of Matthew. In the way that Matthew has constructed his Gospel, Jesus’ sermon on the mount is meant to parallel the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai by YHWH. …

Have you ever had the experience of being approached by a born-again Christian and been asked the question “Have you received Jesus into your life as your personal savior?” It has happened to me a few times and I have been tempted to ask them where in the Bible does it tell …

In today’s gospel, we see John the Baptist pointing to Jesus and saying “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” We know these words well, for they are the words said at every mass at the elevation of the host by the priest just before communion. We …

There is a story told of three farmers sitting around the fire one evening after a hard day’s work. Two of them were having an argument about what was the best way to plant their grain. After realizing that they were getting nowhere in trying to convince the other, they both …

Many of us will know that the calendar date that we celebrate Christ’s birth, 25th December is determined not by the actual date of Jesus’ birth, 2000 years ago, which we have no access to, as it has been lost in the sands of time. Instead, it is determined by pagan …

Our first reading today presents us with the curious case of Ahaz being offered a sign from the Lord Adonai, but turning it down. The reasons that Ahaz turns down the sign are ostensibly quite noble, he says that he does not wish to tempt the Lord. Yet, the prophet Isaiah …

In today’s gospel we see John having doubts about Jesus and sending his disciples to Jesus to ask if he is indeed the one who is come or if they should expect another. What might have occasioned these doubts on the part of John the Baptist? We might get clue from looking at …

If we observe the stories of people who encounter Jesus in the Gospel, they are by and large people who are seeking help from Jesus, normally in the form of some physical healing. Invariably Jesus provides them with the help that they are seeking and they depart from Jesus …

Jessie Chan is a young Chinese woman who is trying to recover from a very painful breakup of her six-year relationship with her boyfriend. A shot of light pierces this darkness in the form of a witty, charming, sensitive fellow by the name of Will who waltzs into Jessie’s …

In order to understand what is going on in this story, we need to realize that it is to be read in the context of what has come just before it, namely the feeding of the 5000. It is no accident that purity laws in Jewish customs and traditions revolved around food and …

In 2018, Pete Davis a Graduate student at Harvard Law gave the commencement address at his graduation. He spoke of an experience that will perhaps be familiar to many of us of being up late at night looking for a movie to watch on Netflix. Even after watching numerous …

In today’s first reading we see the prophet Elijah suffering from classic burnout syndrome. He is sitting forlornly under a broom tree and prays for death in these words: “This is enough, O Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” Many of us know all too well …